Lessons learned at the end of the project “Support for Ukrainian Refugees through Media”
Bucharest, 30.01.2024. “We really need such projects”, said journalist Mona Dîrțu yesterday at the event marking the end of the project “Support for Ukrainian Refugees through Media”. Carried out by the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) with the support of UNESCO, the project ran for seven months.
“The project was a training opportunity for journalists, who constantly learned how to make better stories for both Romanian and Ukrainian audiences. It was a joy to work together for quality journalism,” said Bianca Oanea, project manager, Center for Independent Journalism.
For the entire duration of the project, journalists from Intermedia (Suceava, Botoșani, Neamț), RTT Brașov, PlusTV Maramureș and Euronews Romania were involved in a mentoring programme with media experts from CIJ, with experience in TV production in Romania, but also in Ukraine. The mentoring sessions focused on how journalists can develop stories about Ukrainian refugees in order to provide a more comprehensive picture of them. Journalists attended three training sessions, working with local and international journalists and specialists. They discussed how to report ethically on refugees and the conflicts they are involved in, as well as how to do constructive journalism.
“We learned to approach the topics with them (refugees) also from an emotional point of view, taking into consideration the fact that they are experiencing trauma. We learned from our mentors to be more responsible in the topics we deal with and we accumulated a lot of knowledge that we perhaps wouldn’t have had anyone to learn it from in our towns”, said Mica Șvab, editor-in-chief of Plus TV Maramureș.
The last event organized as part of the project was also open to journalists who were not involved in the project, in order to facilitate a wider debate on how we report both for and about refugees. In addition to the journalists involved in the project, journalists from Libertatea, PressOne, but also from newsrooms across the country, such as Special Arad, Adevărul Pitești, were also present. They discussed with Ulrik Haagerup, former news director at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and founder of the Constructive Institute, about constructive journalism and how to facilitate debates in the communities they report for, presenting solutions and best practice examples.
Ulrik Haagerup began his presentation to journalists by talking about the important role they play and how necessary it is to produce forward-looking content: “if the press forgets that journalism is much more than a product to be sold, democracy erodes”. He then went on with possible solutions to the problems the media presents.
At the end of the event, journalist Mona Dîrțu facilitated a discussion about the needs of the media in order to better report on refugees and what journalists can do better from now on in this regard. “What I think is that we, as Romanians, have an extra experience compared to Western citizens, the immigrant experience. And I think this can help us put ourselves in the shoes of Ukrainian citizens. […] So if I were to wish for something it would be, as Ulrik said, constructive journalism – nuances, solutions, different voices, so that we have a fair picture. We don’t give solutions, but the Romanian public has the right to a more complete and nuanced picture of Ukrainian communities. And let’s talk more about the Ukrainian <communities> and less about the refugee <problem>”, Mona Dirțu told us.
The “Support for Ukrainian Refugees through Media” project, implemented by the CIJ and funded by the Government of Japan, is a UNESCO initiative developed within the framework of the UNHCR-coordinated Regional Refugee Response Plan for Ukraine.
